Machine for applying mouthpiece material to cigarettes.



P. L. FOWLER & J. S. MoGLEA.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIECE MATERIAL T0 GIGARETTES.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 18, 1912.

Patented Feb. 17

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

P. L. FOWLER & J. S. McGLEA. MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIEUE MATERIAL T0CIGARETTES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2. 0

5] c 6 PQEsra/V%Z W Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

P. L. FOWLER & J. S. MGULEA. MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIECE MATERIAL T0OIGARETTES. APPLICATION TILED NOV. 18, 1912.

1,087,874. Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3. 7 9- P. L. FOWLER & J. s. McOLBA. MACHINE FDR APPLYINGMOUTHPIEGE MATERIAL T0 GIGARETTES. APPLICATION FILED NOV.18, 1912.

S m H n w wcfi N 4H 9 M 0 v N j I N F m r I a m w Q I t 4 A l s m 7 1 Id wil P W m 4 w I 1 a m rm 2 mm a 4 a 4 I 7 ,1 W0 8W m 7 a w Z W 1 m 3 wTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PRESTON Ii. FOWLER AND JOHN S. MOGLEA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS TOP. LORILLARD COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIECE MATERIAL TO CIGARETTES.

insaera.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17, 191d.

F0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, PRESTON L. FOWLER and JOHN S. McCLnA, citizens ofthe United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York andState of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machinesfor Applying Mouthpiece Material to Cigarettes, of which the followingis a specification.

()ur present invention relates to certain new and useful in'iprovementsin machines for applying mouth-piece material to cigarettes, and by wayof example we have shown these improvements embodied in the type ofmachine shown and described in the U. S. Patent to F. X. Malocsay, No.840,004 dated January 1, 1907, although theyinay be embodied in othertypes of machines.

In the said patented machine, to which we have applied the improvementsforming the subject matter of the present application, the mouth-piecematerial, which is in strip form, is fed forward to a suitable supportand cut into mouth-piece lengths or sections, which lengths or sectionsare folded about the end of the cigarettes and secured thereto bysuitable adhesive, the ends of the strip preferably overlapping eachother slightly. The mouth-piece strip may be of any suitable material,as for example sheetcork, or cork or metal foil, or other suitablematerial applied to a backing of paper.

The machine of the Malocsay patent ernbodies in its construction asupport for the out off mouth-piece sections, the face of the supportbeing perforated and its body being hollow and having communication bymeans of air conduits, chambers and valves, with a suitable air suctiondevice, in order that the mouth-piece section may be maintained upon itssupport by suction.

The machine also embodies means, such as folding rods or pins designedto lift the free ends of the month-piece material to a posi tion inwhich they will be engaged by an oscillatory brush or wiper thatalternately engages the folded or lifted ends of the mouth-piece sectionto apply or aiiix said ends to the cigarette by a wiping action, saidrods or pins being mounted upon a reciprocating support common to bothsets of pins.

The beforementioned suction supporting means for the mouth-piecematerial as embodied in the Malocsay machine, necessarily complicatesthe construction of the machine, increases the cost of manufacture,installation and maintenance thereof, and is not altogether certain ofoperation, and one of the chief purposes of the present invention is,therefore, to dispense with the said suction support and substitutetherefore a purely mechanical means, which cooperates with a cigaretteand .its mouth-piece section to lift and hold the said section incontact with the end of the cigarette before the section has been cutfrom the strip of mouth piece material, and while the free ends of themouthpiece section are being folded about and aliiXed to the end of thecigarette.

*Another feature of the invention is the provision of simpleindividually operable means for actuating the mouth-piece folding orlifting pins, that are disposed upon opposite sides of the cigarette,whereby these folding pins will be actuated alternately andindependently of each other and in timed relation with the movements ofthe oscillating brush or wiper so as not to be engaged thereby duringits oscillations.

Theinvention resides in the features of construction and in thearrangement and operation of the several parts as hereinafter describedin detail, reference being had for this purpose to the accompanyingdrawing where1n Figure l is a front elevation of a sufficient part of amouth-piece applying machine to show our present improvements. Fig. 2 isa side elevation of the same, certain of the parts being shown insection. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the cigarette supportand some of the cooperating elements as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. is a topplan view of the cigarette support. F 5 is a transverse verticalsectional view of the same parts. Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, are detailviews partly in section, of the parts for applying the section ofmouthpiece material about the eud of the cigarette and showing the partsin successive positions during the operation of applying the mouth-piecematerial. Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing a cigarette providedwith a mouthpiece as applied by the machine.

The reference numeral 1 designates the carrier for the cigarettes, saidcarrier being preferably in the form of a rotating wheel, the width ofwhich is substantially equal to the length of the cigarettes andprovided around its periphery with a number of cigarette receivinggrooves or recesses 2, extending parallel with the axis of the wheel andforming pockets or holders for the cigarettes. The carrier is mountedupon a shaft 3, suitable means being provided to impart motion to theshaft and giving the carrier a step-by-step movement in order to bringthe cigarette receiving recesses or pockets 2 successively intoalinement with the cigarette support and into cooperative relation withthe mouth-piece applying mechanism presently to be described.

The cigarettes l may be fed to the carrier With one end projectingtherefrom, by any suitable means, and arranged above the carrier, forholding the cigarette securely in position in the pocket 2 while themouthpiece material is being applied to the end thereof, a holdingdevice is provided, a single holding device being employed for co-actingwith the successive pockets as the movement of the carrier brings theminto position. For this purpose a reciprocating plunger 5 is provided,said plunger having its under face concaved and arranged in position tobear against the body of the cigarette in the pocket 2. The plunger 5 ismounted upon a vertically reciprocating rod 6 which slides vertically ina suitable bracket, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2 and is reciprocatedby a lever '7 pivoted intermediate its ends, the outer end of the levercarrying a roller 8 which bears upon a rotary cam 9 mounted upon a shaft10. The shaft 10 is driven from a suitable part of the machine and therotary movements of the cam 9 are so timed that the plunger will movedownward into holding position upon the cigarettes as they are broughtsuccessively under the same by the step movements of the rotary carrier1, and will then be raised after the mouthpiece material has beenapplied to the end of the cigarette so held by the plunger. After themouth-piece material has been applied, the projecting end of thecigarette is pushed back into the pocket 2 in the carrier by means of apusher 12, and the carrier is then advanced a single step to bring afresh cigarette into position to be acted upon.

Any suitable means may be provided in connection with other features ofthe invention for applying the mouth-piece material to the end of thecigarette and for feeding or supplying the mouth-piece ma terial to theapplying means, and for the purposes of illustrating our improvements wehave shown in the accompanying drawings the means illustrated anddescribed in the aforesaid Malocsay patent. By such applying means ashort section of mouthpiece material is folded about the end of thecigarette by having an intermediate portion of the section applied tothe cigarette and the extending portions of the section then foldedabout the cigarette, the section being preferably of a length such thatthe meeting ends thereof will slightly overlap. The individual pieces orsections of mouth-piece material are preferably severed from a longstrip of material 13, more clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the stripeing fed forward intermittently a distance corresponding to the lengthof the individual pieces or sections for forming the mouth pieces. Themeans for feeding the strip may conveniently consist of a reciprocatinggripper 14:, which may be moved back and forth by any suitablemechanism, not shown, to grip the end of the strip and draw a mouthpiece length over the cigarette support presently to be described, andin position to enable the section to be applied to the cigarette. Thestrip of mouth piece material is moved between suitable guides 15 andpasses under a paste applying roller 16, so that the upper surfacethereof will receive a coating of adhesive as the strip is fed forward.Arranged adjacent the cigarette support, yet to be described, is astrip-severing means consisting of a movable blade 17 that cooperateswith a fixed blade 18, the said movable blade 17 being car ied by avertically reciprocating bloclr 19 that is actuated by a lever 20 fromany suitable moving part of the machine, the movable blade operating tosever a mouth-piece length or section from the strip, after said sectionhas been drawn over the cigarette support by the gripper l t; the saidmovable blade operating in certain timed relation with the movements ofthe cigarette support, the mouth-piece applying mechanism, and theholding plunger 5, to sever a mouth-piece section from the strip afteran intermediate portion of the section has been pressed up against andwhile it is being held in contact with the under side of the cigarette,as will presently be made clear.

The reference numeral 21 designates the cigarette support, the face ofwhich is grooved or recessed as at 22 to correspond to the shape of oneside of the cigarette, the recessed face of said support being normallybelow he plane of the pocket 2, but adapted to be brought into alinementwith the said pocket and against the under side of the section ofmouth-piece material to hold an intermediate portion of said sectionagainst the under side of the end of the cigarette while the free endsof the section are being folded about said end. he support 21 is mountedupon a verti ally reciprocating slide 2 the lower end of which is forkedas shown and a portion of which lower end above the fork carries roller2% mounted for rotation in a cam groove 25 formed in one face of acam-disk which disk is carried by and rotates with a driven shaft 27 Thecam 25 operates to impart slight reciprocatory movements to the support21 in order to first lower the same sufficiently to take the upper endthereof out of the pad of travel of the gripper 1 L as the latter movesback and forth in the act of feeding the strip of mouthpiece materialover the support and to then raise the same to press the mouth piecesection into contact with the under side of the end of the cigarette,the said upward movement of the support taking place after anintermediate portion of the mouth piece section has been pressedagainst, and while it is being held in contact with the end of thecigarette by a suitable pressing and holding member now to be described,which pressing and holding member constitutes one of the importantfeatures of the present invention.

cooperatively associated with and movable vertically through alongitudinal openformed in the support 21 is a mouthpiece pressing andholding member consisting in the instance shown of a vertically movablefinger 28, the upper end of which is concaved to correspond to a convexwall of the cigarette, the said finger being carried by a verticallyreciprocating slide 29, the lower end of which carries a roller 30 thatcooperates with a cam 31 formed on the periphery of the cam disk 26. Thecam 31 is so shaped and timed in its movements as to operate to raisethe pressing and holding finger 28 to cause an intermediate portion ofthe mouth-piece section to be lifted and pressed into contact with theunder side of the end of the cigarette that overlies the concave face 22of the support 21., the said finger operating in advance of the upwardmovement of the support 21, and immediately after the holding plunger 5has moved down upon the body of the cigarette 4; resting in the grooveor pocket 2 of the carrier 1.. Immediately the finger 28 has moved,upward to press the mouth-piece section against the under side of thecigarette, the gripper 14c releases its hold upon the end of themouth-piece section, and at the same time the movable member 17 of thecutting mechanism descends to sever a mouth piece section from the strip18, the finger 28 during these operations securely holding themouth-piece section in position and continuing to hold the same duringthe subsequent operations of folding the free ends of the mouth-piecesection around the end of the cigarette. Tmmediately after themouthpiece section has been severed from the end of the strip thesupport 21 is elevated to bring the upper curved face 22 thereof in linewith the upper curved face of the finger 28 and the portions of themouth piece section immediately adjacent the finger 28 in contact withthe under side of the cigarette. The support 21 and the finger 28 aremaintained in the position last described until after the mouth-piecesection has been completely applied to the cigarette, immediately afterwhich both these parts are caused to move downward to the initialstarting positions as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6.

The mouth-piece holding and pressing finger 28 just described provides asimple means for holding the end of the strip of mouth-piece materialwhile and after a mouth-piece section has been severed from the end ofthe strip, and enables us to dispense with the suction holding means asemployed in the beforementioned illalocsay patent, thus materiallysimplifying and reducing the cost of manufacture and maintenance of themachine.

The means for folding the free ends of the mouth-piece about the end ofthe ciga rette will now. be described. r-irranged on each side of thefinger 28 and passing through openings formed in the support 21 are pins32, as more clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5, one or more pins beingarranged on each side of the finger 28, independent means being providedfor separately and alternateiy elevating the pins to alternately liftthe free ends of the mouthpiece section into position to be engaged byan oscillating wiper presently to be described, whereby said free endsare folded about and aflixed to the cigarette. Each of the pins 32 iscarried by a head 33 mounted in the upper end of a verticallyreciprocating rod 34, as more clearly shown in Fig. 1, each rod beingpivotally connected at its lower end to a lever 35 pivoted intermediateits ends as at 36 to a bracket 37 secured to a part of the machineframe. The free end of each lever is pivotally connected by a link 38 tothe longer arm 39 of a bell-crank lever pivoted at to to the lowerforked end ll of the bracket 37, the shorter arm d2 of said bellcranklever carrying a roller L3 that moves in a cam groove formed in one faceof the cam disk 26, the said cam groove having a single offset portionas that cooperates with the two bell-crank levers 4-2 to alternatelylift or ele ate the pins 32, it being understood that each of the pinsis actuated by its own operating mechanism, which actuating mechanismsare separately and independently operable in order that they may bemoved out of the path of the beforenientioned oscillatory wiper, as thesame opcrates to apply the mouth-piece section to the cigarette.

The oscillatory wiper referred to comprises in the instance shown abrush section as to which an oscillatory movement is imparted by meansof a reciprocating rack not shown, the wiper operating during itsmovement in one direction to apply one of the free ends of themouth-piece section to the cigarette. and when moving in the oppositedirection, or upon its return movement, to apply the other free end ofthe mouth piece section to the cigarette, these ends being alternatelylifted in position to be engaged by the wiper by means of the pins 3 Theoperation of a machine embodying our improvements is as follows,reference being made more particularly to Figs. 6 to 10 inclusive, wherethe several stages of opera n in applying the mouth-piece section to thecigarette are shown: Assuming the cigarette support and the pressing andholding linger to be in the position illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6, thegripper 1% moves forward over the face of the support and gras s the endof the strip 13, of mouth-piece material drawing a mouth-piece l ngththe strip over the face of the support, the support as well as thepresser fin er during its opera 1011 being in its lowermost )SSlllOI}. A

cigarette is then delivered by the carrier with a rojecting end thereofover ying the support, and the holding plunger 5 is then brought to bearupon the body of the cigarette to securely hold the same upon thecarrier during the operations of applying the mouthaiece material aboutthe cigarette, and an intermediate portion of the mouth piece sectionwhich is yet uncut rom the strip. The pressing and holding finger 28 isnow moved up to the position indicated in Fig. 7, pressing anintermediate portion of the mouth piece section against the under sideof the cigarette and holding the same against movement. The severinmechanism now eve s a mouth piece length of the material from the stripand immediately after the severing operation the cigarette support 21moves upward to the position illustrated in S and one of the liftingpins 82 also moves upward and folds one of the free ends of themouth-piece section in an upward direction as illustrated in Fig. 8, tobring the same in the path or" move ment of the wiper to be engagedthereby during its movement in one direction to ap- 1 '1: ply anu aninsa d hited end of the mouthpiece section to the cigarette. Immediatelythe forward end of the wiper engages the lifted end of the mouth-piecesection the pin 32 is lowered and the companion pin at the opposite sideof the cigarette is raised to fold th other free end or the mouth piecesection in an upward direction to be engaged by the wiper 45 upon itsreturn movement to apply said free end to the cigarette, the last namedlifting pin beng retracted immediately the wiper engages the free end ofthe mouth-piece sect-ion upon its return movement, the parts thenassuming the position illustrated in Fig. 10, and the mouth-piecesection eing then completely applied to the end of the cigarette asillustrated in Fig.

Toe mouth piece support- 21 and the linger 28 then move downward to theinitial 1 'ti as illustrated in 6, and the before-described operationsare repeated.

v lat we claim is 1. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material tocigarettes and in combination, cans for holding acigarette, means forfeeding a strip of mouth-piece material a mouth-piece length andpositioning the same for application to the cigarette, a strip severingmeans, and means for pressing and holding an intermediate portion ofsaid mouth-piece length of material into contact with the cigarette,said last named means coming into operation before the severing meanshas acted to sever the strip.

2. ln a machine for applying mouthpiece material to cigarettes and incombination, means for engaging and holding the body portion of acigarette, means for feeding a strip of mouth-piece material amouthpiece length and positioning said length for application to acigarette end, means for pressing an intermediate portion of said lengthagainst one side of tle cigarette, means for severing said length fromthe strip, and means for folding the free ends of said length about anend of the cigarette, said pressin means coming into operation beforethe section is severed from the strip and being maintained in operationduring the severing operation and the operations of folding the sectionabout the cigarette.

3. In a machine for applying mouth-piece .iaterial about one end of acigarette, means or supporting the bodyportion of a ciga ette with anend projecting beyond he same, neans for holding the cigarette upon saidupporting means, a support for the mouthpiece material and the saidprojecting end or" the cigarette, a presser member carried by andmovable independently of the sup port for pressing the mouth-pieceterial against the cigarette, and means for folding the free ends of thematerial about the cigarette while the presser member is holding anintermediate portion of said material against the cigarette.

4. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material about one end of acigarette, means for supporting the body portion of a cigarette with anend projecting beyond the same, means for holding the cigarette uponsaid supporting means, a movable support for the mouth-piece material, apresser member carried by and movable independently of the said movablesupport, means for mov ing said presser member in advance of the saidmovable support to bring an intermediate portion of the mouth-piecematerial into contact with the cigarette, means for advancing themovable support toward the cigarette after the said presser member hasoperated, and means for folding the free ends of the mouth-piecematerial about the cigarette while the said presser member is holding anintermediate portion of the 1naterial against the cigarette.

a. In machine for applying mouth-piece material about one end of acigarette, a sup port for the mouth-piece material and the end of thecigarette to which said material is to be applied, and a presser memberin-- dependent of the support for pressing an intermediate portion ofsaid material against a side of the cigarette at one end and maintainingthe same in contact with said end during the subsequent operations offolding the free ends of the mouth-piece material about the cigarette.

6. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material about one end of acigarette, a support for the mouth-piece material and the end of thecigarette to which said material is to be applied, and an independentprcsser member movable through said support for pressing an intermediateportion of said material against a side of the cigarette at one endtiereof, and maintaining the same in contact with said end during thesubsequent operations of folding the free ends of the mouth-piecematerial about the cigarette.

7. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material about the end of acigarette, a support for the mouth-piece material and the end of thecigarette to which said material is to be applied, a movable pressermember independent of the support for pressing an intermediate portionof said material against a side of the cigarette at one end thereof, andmeans for folding the free ends of the mouth-piece material about thecigarette while the said pressing member is hold ing the intermediateportion of the material against the cigarette.

8. 'The combination of means for supporting a cigarette with one endprojecting beyond the supporting means, means for feeding a strip ofmouth-piece material a mouth-piece length and positioning said lengthfor application to the said projecting cigarette end, means for severingthe said strip, means for applying the said length of mouth-piecematerial about the projecting end of the cigarette, and a verticallymoving presser finger for pressing an intermediate portion of the lengthof mouth-piece material against the cigarette and holding the same incontact therewith, said presser finger acting in advance of the stripsevering means.

9. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a verticallymovable support, means for positioning a piece of mouthpiece materialabove the support, an inde pendently movable presser fingercooperatively associated with the support, means for raising the presserlinger in advance of the support to press a piece of mouth-piecematerial into contact with and hold the same against the end of acigarette, and means for folding the extending ends of the mouth-piecematerial about the cigarette.

10. The combination of means for bold-- ing a cigarette, a support,means for posi tioning a piece of mouth-piece material bove the support,means for raising the support to carry an intermediate portion of thepiece of mouthpiece materialagainst the cigarette, independently movablefolders carried by the support for folding the extending ends of thepiece of mouth-piece material upward, and means for folding suchup-turned ends down upon the cigarette.

ll. The combination with means for holding a cigarette, a support, meansfor positioning a piece of mouth-piece material above the support, meansfor raising the support to carry an intermediate portion of the piece ofmouth-piece material against the cigarette, folders carried by thesupport for folding the extending ends of the piece of mouth-piecematerial upward, independent means for operating sail folderssuccessively, and means for folding such lip-turned ends down upon thecigarette.

1.2. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a verticallymovable support, means for positioning a piece of mouth-piece materialabove the support, means independent of the support for pressing anintermediate portion of the piece of mouth-piece material against thecigarette, independently movable folding rods mounted to reciprocatethrough the face of the support, independent means for operating saidrods to fold the extending ends of the piece of mouth-piece materialupward successively, and means for folding such tip-turned ends down onthe cigarette.

18. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a verticallymovable support, means for positioning a piece of mouth-piece materialover said support, means for raising the support to carry anintermediate portion of the piece of mouth-piece material against thecigarette, vertically movable folding rods mounted to reciprocatethrough the face of the support, a separate bell-crank lever having anoperative connection with each folding rod, and means for actuating saidbellcrank levers successively.

l l. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a verticallymovable support, means for positioning a piece of mouth-piece materialover the support, a presser finger cooperatively associated with andmovable independently of the support for pressing an intermediateportion of the piece of mouth-piece material against the cigarette,independently movable folding rods mounted to reciprocate through theface of the support for folding the extending ends of the piece ofmouth-piece materail upward successively, a pair of pivoted levers oneconnected to each folding rod, a pair of bell-crank levers, oneconnected to each of the aforesaid levers, means for actuating saidbell-crank levers successively, and means for folding the up-turned endsof the mouthpiece material down on the cigarette.

15. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, the support 21,the presser finger 28 movable through an opening in and independently ofthe said support, means for moving the said finger in advance of thesupport, folding rods 32 for lifting the free ends of the piece ofmouthpiece material, and means for folding the Lip-turned ends of thepiece of mouth-piece material down on the cigarette.

16. The combination of means for feeding a strip of mouth-piecematerial, a support over which said strip of material is fed, areciprocating gripper for drawing the end of the strip over the support,strip severing means beyond the support, a vertically reciprocatingpresser finger movable through the support, means for raising thepresser finger to press an intermediate portion of the strip against theend of the cigarette, said finger raising means operating in advance ofthe strip severing means, and means for folding the free ends of thesevered piece of mouth-piece material down on the cigarette.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands in presence of twosubscrib ing Witnesses.

PRESTON L. FOYVLEP. JOHN S. MOCLEA. Witnesses J. GRANVILLE MEYERs, L. A.HAMMERSLEY.

copies of this patent may be obtained for jive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0.

